More and more non-profits, companies, and community members are getting involved in lending a helping hand to our brothers and sisters in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Chuuk, impacted by Super Typhoon Sinlaku. KUAM News checks-in with our friends at PBS Guam as they extend their space for a donation drive to support those among our must vulnerable.

Aid for the CNMI and Chuuk continues to pour in from across the diaspora and right here at home — with multiple organizations lending a helping hand to support our neighbors. Among them is PBS Guam, seeking to support island families as they rebuild and recover, with its baby and family donation drive.

Jennifer Ungacta Stafford is a development associate and music and movement educator, and said, “We’re already serving families with young children here in our weekly classes. So, I thought it would be convenient for families on their way out the door to simply grab from their existing stash or pick something up, a bag of diapers, a package of wipes.”

“Our little ones need pockets of joy in their day, in their week, in the months ahead.”

PBS Guam offering its music and movement space at the Guam Premier Outlets as a drop-off point for these essential items, which will eventually go to the donation drive organized by the Ayuda Foundation, in partnership with the Micronesia Climate Change Alliance and other non-profits, going on in Tamuning at the former Lyndon B. Johnson Elementary School.

Moñeka De Oro of the MCCA spoke on the support she’s witnessed so far, saying, “We’ve already filled up seven containers– two going to Chuuk, five just waiting for the port in Saipan to open up and being sent there with supplies. It’s incredible to see one, the level of devastation in the Northern Marianas, most especially in Tinian and Saipan, who got the brunt of this storm, but also the level of generosity, and willingness and eagerness to help support our manelu across the Marianas and in Chuuk.”

And the opportunity for the community to continue showing that generosity is now extended, with the drive at the LBJ campus happening until mid-May. Those who wish to give or volunteer may do so from 10am-4pm daily.

Stafford also committing to extending PBS’s effort as well, with collections accepted daily from 10am-5pm. “This time around, it's the NMI and Chuuk, but just as it was us impacted three years ago by Mawar, it could be us again next time, so we just want to practice the CHamoru cultural values, of aguiya, we give out of love," she said.

In the meantime, PBS Guam will also be accepting new toys during its drive, as MCCA also notes adult diapers are an essential need.